Buildings & Grounds

According to the ancient Chinese art of geomancy, the site of the Monastery—at the confluence of two rivers (the Beaverkill and Esopus), with a mountain to the north (Tremper Mountain)—is an auspicious place for religious practice. Designated by the Monastery’s first Board of Directors as a nature sanctuary, to remain “forever wild,” the property comprises woods and meadows, riverside marshes, cliffs, streams, and ponds–all home to an extraordinary variety of plant and animal life.

The Monastery’s Main House

Built from 1929 to 1936 by a Catholic priest and Norwegian craftspeople, the Monastery’s main house is crafted of bluestone quarried from nearby cliffs and pillars of white oak cut from the hillsides. It houses the Monastery’s meditation hall, dining hall, kitchen, lounge, private rooms for residents, and dormitories for visiting practitioners. In 1995, the building was named a national and state historic landmark.

Envisioned by Daido Roshi as early as 1985 and finally completed in 2012, the Sangha House comprises the Monastery’s administrative offices, a stately performance hall for events and retreats, a multipurpose room for programs, the Monastery Store, the library, an art studio, a body practice space, a reading room, and shower and laundry facilities for residents.

Tremper Mountain

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Tea House

Near the North Gate is a traditional-style Wakoan, used for tea ceremony and for training retreat participants in this traditional formal practice.

Cemetery

Located in a pine grove on a hillside above the main building, the cemetery houses the stupa of the first and second Abbots of the Monastery–Taizan Maezumi, Roshi, and John Daido Loori, Roshi, respectively. It is also the burial site for monastics and lay students who wish to have their ashes interred there. Memorial services and the annual Hungry Ghost ceremony are conducted in the cemetery.

Hermitages

At the Monastery, hermitages are done in stretches of one week, with permission of the abbot. The Mountain Hermitage is located a quarter mile uphill of the cabins. The Dogen Hermitage sits beyond Basho Pond. The Tea House Hermitage is near the Tea House, close to the Monastery driveway.

Vegetable Garden

From spring through early winter, the garden provides a plethora of fresh greens, plus garlic, carrots, cherry tomatoes, summer and winter squash, flowers for the Monastery’s altars, and much more.

Zen Gardens

The Monastery’s Zen Gardens are inspired by the classical Japanese style and use large rocks, stones, moss, ferns and other elements to create spaces that harmonize with the natural landscape. There are small Zen gardens located in the cemetery, the tea house, the north and the south sides of the main building, and at each main entrance to the Monastery grounds.

A-Frames on Hanshan Meadow and Cabin Circle

Located in the hills above the main building, these residences are for long-term practitioners living at the Monastery.

Basho Pond

Zen Environmental Studies Institute – Catskills Site

The Catskill ZESI site provides the workshop for retreats in birding, wilderness skills, tracking, monitoring of water quality, and for arts such as photography, painting and writing.